What is Democracy?

Kia Ora,

Over the last week or so you have heard the governments of the west, in particular the US & Britain speaking out over the protests & riots in the Middle East saying let them have democratically elected governments.

But what is democracy?

It seems to be different things to different people.

I have raised this before about how an Iraqi team member when asked why he hadn't been to vote said he did. His Father did it for him & his mother did it for all the females in the family.

When we pointed out that is not democracy, that it is one person one vote & a government elected by the people, his answer was "you do not understand democracy.

When other Iraqis who worked at our villa were asked about their vote as they had been very pro one candidate did they vote for him. "oh no our Iman or our elders told us to vote for this or that person.

That is their idea of democracy. Though I see their preferred candidate technically won the last Iraqi election as he is a 'good strong man'.

In the dictionary it refers to as a government elected by the people, but the more I deleve into the world of financial education(real education not the education systems idea but self education looking to see what is really happening)that is all a myth where it is designed to divide & conquor then manipulate the masses.

It is also funny on how what is a democratic version of election in one country can be ruled undemocratic in another.

For example the US electoral system gives very little power to the voter(as seen in the election in 2000 of George W. Bush) but all power to the electoral college, but most people would regard the US as a very demoractic government.

Well my Iwi(tribe) uses the similar system to elect our representatives on TRONT(for want of a better definition ruling council) of which I was for a short time one(alternate representative). Everyone votes as too who is going to be on the electoral committee(in the US each state is different but it determines who sits on their electoral college)who then determine who of the candidates is to be elected(not the people). In my case it was pretty easy as I was the only one with my name in for that position.
Struggle for Democracy, The (8th Edition)
But then came the fisheries settlement between the New Zealand government & the Iwi of New Zealand. Our Iwi was initially left out as it required an Iwi to be represented by those democratically elected. Our system was said to be undemocratic even though it was quite obviously based on the US system.

You can see their point though as no one actually votes for the candidate. In the US votes determine how many votes go towards that candidate in the electoral college then we learn of the Super candidates in the electoral college who are not elected by any voters but have a huge say in who becomes the President of the USA.

So technically the people of the US can indicate they want one candidate but the electoral college can vote in another candidate.
Democracy in What State? (New Directions in Critical Theory)
Then the real manipulations begin once someone is in power. Governments always claim by been in power they have the mandate of the people to do certain things in their interest.

Actually they often don't. Here in New Zealand the governments can not have claimed that since about 1975 as under the first past the post system most governments often had less votes than the opposition just mroe electorates.

So we changed to MMP(a very dangerous system but if you tried to tell people at the time you were told you were wrong, I mean it is how Hitler got to power)& since then no government has been able to govern alone. Often the small parties have been able to exercise power well beyond their support base.

Just in this last week both major political parties here in New Zealand have shown how they are prepared to manipulate information to get those that do vote(which is getting less & less as people get disillusioned) to vote in their direction at the coming election.

The government claimed that New Zealand is in great debt, but only one financial commentator I have seen in the media has picked up on the figures used. They are right New Zealand is in a lot of debt but very little of it is government debt, it is the banks or personal debt so selling the governments assets to would be only to pay for the banks debt.

Meanwhile the opposition are jumping on the we will not tax the first $5000 & drop GST on food bandwagon. As has been pointed out this was similar to that tried by President of Tunisia & once the inflation caused by the US Federal reserve 'printing' currency hit is just made no difference.
Democracy, Inc.: The Press and Law in the Corporate Rationalization of the Public Sphere (History of Communication)
What is going to replace democracy as change sweeps the world & even these 'liberal' western forms of government are expected to fall?

The Singapore system of the benevolent dictatorship(lived there for two years & we came to the conclusion that is exactly what it is) or the Chinese capitalism in a controlled environment? At least the Chinese are more up front & honest about how their system works. This is the way it is! Much less manipulation through layers of bureaucracy. Less Crime too.

As one commentator said "do you go for the US or Chinese when you ask for a quote & whilst waiting for the first reply from the US supplier the Chinese have given not only their quote but have built a prototype."
Death of the Liberal Class
So what really is democracy & is it going to survive the upheaval the world is about to go through?

Can it survive in any form?

At the end of the day people only really care about looking after their families when it comes to the crunch.

The Chinese appear to be trying to learn from their history to stop it affecting them whilst the West seem to either forgotten or don't care.

http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz